Flight
by Evil Idiot
Summary: If you didn't read it before, now is the time! j/k


The whole thing. Which is short anyway...^_~   
*  
  
A breeze blew from the window and gently ruffled Sakura's hair.  
She didn't stir.  
The breeze blew harder...slowly, gradually...the cover of the Clow Book lifted up...  
the cards flew up in a cloud of pink.....  
Sakura slept on.  
  
Kero woke to the sound of pure chaos. Sakura's room looked that way, too. Clothes were strewn across the floor and hanging out of the dresser. Books littered the desk and papers were stacked in uneven piles on the chair. The mess under Sakura's bed had been moved to the ground. The only place that looked normal was the bed; excluding the now silent occupant, of course.  
  
Sakura was holding her head in her hands as if she had a terrible migraine. Her eyes were closed and they appeared to be holding back a flood of tears. The look on her face was suggesting she was in great pain and distress. Or, the end of the world.  
  
"Sakura?"  
  
She opened her eyes; the restrained tears escaped down her cheeks, tickling them unpleasantly.  
"The Sakura Cards are gone, Kero."   
  
*  
  
Sakura slid open the door to Homeroom, extremely tired. She had spent all yesterday cleaning up her room, but she hadn't seen one Sakura Card at all. Not one. However, since she was so tired, she walked, drowsy, to the nearest desk and fell asleep, sleeping soundly for the next 10 minutes.  
  
She didn't get a precognitive dream. She didn't dream at all, in fact. Sakura might have had a dream, but she was awakened by a smiling face. A face not used to smiling. The girl had auburn hair, highlighted in black, poofy and wavy. She had crimson eyes, very familiar eyes. It clashed terribly with her hair, but she was still rather pretty.  
  
"Hi Sakura! Remember me?"  
"Huh?"  
  
Sakura had never known anyone with bizarrely dyed hair. But she had known only one person with those same crimson eyes. Meiling Li.  
  
"It's me, Meiling. Like what I've done to my hair?"  
  
She twisted one of her red-and-black locks around her finger, looking excited.  
  
"Yeah, sure. It looks great…"  
  
Meiling, instead of smiling even more broadly, suddenly frowned.  
  
"Something's wrong. I can feel it. Something's very wrong."  
  
Sakura snapped back to consciousness. She had been falling asleep, but not anymore.  
  
"How did you know? My cards are missing."  
"Really? Oh, I forgot to tell you. Last week, Mother discovered I DID have some magic. Fire magic. Something set it off last week, I don't know what. But I'm so excited! I can't wait till Syaoran comes!"  
  
As soon as she said this, the door slid open and the person in question appeared. He was silent, as usual, but he took a seat behind Sakura, and smiled. Syaoran hadn't changed much since two years ago, but he had certainly grown taller. Much taller.  
  
"Hi, Sakura. Who's this? A friend of yours that dyed her hair?"  
  
Meiling opened her eyes. She blinked. Syaoran blinked. She blinked again. He blinked again.  
  
"Do I know you?"  
"You should be ashamed, Shaolang. Don't you recognize me?"  
  
It hit him.  
  
"Oh! Meiling! What are you doing here? And what did you do to your hair?"  
"I dyed it. Like it?"  
"Yeah. It looks great. Better than what you had before… not that I didn't like your previous hairstyle, of course…."  
"Thanks. I haven't seen you for a long time, so I decided to visit. What's going on, anyway?"  
"Everything's normal."  
"My cards are missing."  
"What?"  
  
Syaoran's strangely cheerful face that morning disappeared, to be replaced by the usual scowl.  
  
"I woke up yesterday and they were gone. I looked everywhere. Heck, Kero even helped, but I couldn't find them. I couldn't sense any, either."  
"Then you'll have to do without them. Or I think you could make new ones."  
"New cards? How could I do that?"  
  
Syaoran's smile returned.  
  
"You have your sealing wand, right? You could make cards."  
"By sealing stuff that isn't a card?"  
"Exactly. You're getting smarter, Sakura."  
  
Sakura took off her necklace, studying it intently. However, her concentration was broken immediately by the tardy bell. The teacher, Ms. Haramoto, was nowhere in sight. Was something wrong?  
  
The door slid open again, revealing the teacher. Sakura put her necklace away, wondering….  
  
*  
  
"The Key that hides forces of stars! Show your true shape to me! I, Sakura, command you under the contract! Release!"  
  
The necklace that had been hanging on Sakura's neck flew off, started spinning fast, very fast, and turned into the familiar wand.  
  
By now, school had been over for an 10 minutes. Luckily, it had been the very first day, so there had been no homework.   
  
"It's so hot!"  
"Yeah, I know, Meiling. But I don't have any cards to make it colder."  
"Oh, well. Can't you use Freeze, Syaoran?"  
"It freezes objects, not weather."  
"Darn."  
  
Meiling sighed. It was too hot….too hot….she started to feel a little dizzy….  
  
"Hey-"  
  
Meiling fainted.  
  
"Meiling!"  
"This is no ordinary weather. I have a feeling it's something else."  
"Really?"  
  
Sakura held her wand in her hands, and closed her eyes. She DID feel something.   
  
"I feel it! It's something, but it feels very different from a Clow Card. More… advanced."  
"Yeah. More powerful."  
"What do you think it is?"  
"Something… magic."   
"Hmm. Why did Meiling faint, anyway?"  
"She has magic now. Fire magic. She's already hot, so this heat is affecting her more. She'll be OK, though."  
"Do you think I could capture this 'Heat'?"  
"Probably. If we could find it's location."  
"But I didn't get any sense of direction when I sensed it!"  
"Neither did I. Why don't we try the Lasin Board?"  
  
Syaoran took it out, surprising Sakura.  
  
"I keep it with me always, in case of emergency."  
  
The blue light began to point toward the sun.   
  
"Huh? Don't tell me it's in space, Syaoran!"  
"It might be….no, I don't think so."  
  
Sakura at once felt something very hot. It was like some sort of wind, but warm. Whatever it was, it was fast. It ruffled her hair, making it feel like it was on fire.   
  
"Ouch!"  
  
Sakura took a lock of hair and brought close to her face, to examine. It was smoking!  
  
"Capture it now!"  
"Uh-Return to your power confined! Sakura Card!"  
  
It was fighting. And it was strong. But not strong enough. The swirling mass of orange shrank, until it was only a thin sheet of paper. It flew into Sakura's open hands, still feeling a little warm. The words at the bottom read, "The Heat."  
  
"The Heat, huh? It could be useful…"  
  
*  
  
Kero was surprised but happy when Sakura told him about capturing "The Heat" successfully. Kero was also surprised but unhappy when Sakura told him Meiling was back, with magic.  
  
"Tsk, tsk. The brat's cousin with magic. What is the world coming to?"  
  
He shook his head in mock disapproval, nearly bending the Heat Card. Kero was holding the Heat Card in his hands, examining it closely. The picture on it was of a fierce-looking sun, and the only spot of color was a golden ray. The pink border clashed terribly with the sun, but it was a magnificent looking card, nonetheless.  
  
Kero yawned.  
  
"I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed."  
  
He flew across the room, settled in his small bed, and began to snore. Sakura looked at him, slightly amused, and decided to go to bed herself. She slept, dreamless, for the rest of the night.  
  
*  
(9 months later)  
  
Bright sunshine flooded through the window, giving Sakura's bedroom a golden glow. Without warning, she rolled off the bed and woke up.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Sakura shook her head, then blinked. Her clock read 2:00. 2:00???  
  
"I overslept!!"  
  
Hastily, she opened the door, to be greeted with silence. Sakura walked down the hall toward Touya's bedroom. He was sleeping peacefully. Her father was also sleeping.  
  
What was going on?  
  
Sakura walked back to her bedroom, and noticed that Kero was also asleep. Had the Sleep Card made an appearance? Probably not. And then Sakura remembered today was Monday. She was about to get dressed, when she noticed her calendar. Today was the third day of summer vacation.   
  
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. But why was everyone sleeping? Had the Doze Card escaped? She took out her Sakura Cards. There were now 50 of them, with the latest addition of "The Gust."   
  
She started looking through them. Soar, Joy, Shift, Volcano, Growth, Form, Doze! It was here, so what was going on? Had Sleep returned?  
  
"The Key that hides forces of stars! Show your true shape to me! I, Sakura, command you under the contract! Release!"  
  
Sakura held the wand in her hands, tilted her head to the side, and closed her eyes. Nothing. Nothing except a great shining star. A star? Yes, it was a star. And it was glowing very brightly.  
  
She opened her eyes, puzzled. Could it become a card? Probably. What kind of card would it be, anyway? The Star? No…   
  
Suddenly, Kero yawned loudly. He opened his eyes slowly, drowsy.   
  
"It's 2:00 already? Dang, I overslept!"  
  
Kero noticed that Sakura was still wearing her pajamas.   
  
"You overslept too?"  
  
Sakura's reply was interrupted by the phone. She dashed down the stairs and picked it up.  
  
"Hello? Kinomoto residence."  
"Sakura? It's me, Meiling. Did you oversleep too?"  
  
Meiling sounded exhausted.  
  
"Yeah. But my dad and brother are still sleeping, and they NEVER oversleep."  
"That's strange. Syaoran's still sleeping too."  
"Do you feel that something's going on? I can sense some sort of big star, but that's it."  
"Yeah, me too. Why don't we meet at the school? I'll bring Syaoran."  
"OK, bye."  
"Bye."  
  
Sakura walked upstairs, got dressed, dashed downstairs, and slipped out the door.  
  
*  
  
Something Sakura noticed on her way to the school was that the streets were empty and deserted. There weren't any people about.  
  
Meiling and Syaoran were at the gate, Syaoran looking tired and Meiling looking even more tired. Leaning against the wall, she looked like she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Meiling's now pink-and-lavender hair was disheveled and the poofiness gone.  
  
"What happened?"  
"I don't know. No matter what I did to it, my hair just ended up looking like this. I even tried magic, but I ended up burning it."  
  
  
Meiling grinned stupidly, so unlike her old frown.   
  
"Yeah, and then I had to fix her hair. It took a lot of my energy. But, sadly, Meiling's still vain."  
"Syaoran!"  
  
Meiling punched him lightly on the arm, but it looked like if she had hit him any harder, she wouldn't have the energy to stand up.   
  
"Let's stop fooling around. We should be finding out what happened to everyone."  
  
Meiling closed her eyes, and concentrated.   
  
"It's very near. I can feel it."  
  
*  
  
"Yes. It's close."  
"Get your wand out, Sakura!"  
"The Key that hides forces of stars! Show your true shape to me! I, Sakura, command you under the contract! Release!"  
  
Sakura took out the second card she had captured, Icy.  
  
"Icy! Turn the star into ice!"  
  
Icy looked around, unable to see it.  
  
"Icy, return! What do we do now?"   
  
Sakura wished her old cards were here, also. Where had they gone? She hadn't seen them since a year ago.  
  
"Sakura, look at your chest!"  
"Wha-"  
  
It was glowing. Glowing??? Yes, glowing. And figures shot out. The familiar ones of Windy, Watery, Firey, Earthy, Light, and Dark. And all the rest.  
  
Light spoke up.  
  
"We were inside of you the whole time. It's just that we weren't able to get out until now."  
"Really?"  
"Yes."  
  
At once, each card switched to card form and flew to Sakura's hand.  
  
"Windy! Watery! Firey! Earthy!"  
  
Simultaneously, all four shot out and headed toward the star, which had made an appearance. They never made it. Halfway there, they mysteriously froze, then hit the ground. Sakura gasped.  
  
"What happened?"  
"This is one strong card. Try sealing it now. Maybe we can attack it then to make it weaker!"  
"OK! Return to your power confined! Sakura Card!"  
  
Syaoran vanished. Meiling gasped.   
  
"He disappeared! OK, then. It's my turn! ICE!"  
  
The stream of ice missed. Sakura vanished. Her wand fell to the ground loudly with a CLANK.   
  
"Oh no! They're gone….hey, my hands are on fire!"  
  
They LOOKED like they were on fire. But they weren't. Slowly, the fires soared into the air, and connected. More strings of fire appeared and joined together. The web flew into the air.  
  
"Fire net!"  
  
Meiling didn't know why she said that; she just did. But, the net threw itself over the star. The star struggled against the net. It was powerful. Just not powerful enough.  
  
Both star and net disappeared; in the star's place was a red slip of paper that flew to Meiling's hand. For the second time in a year, Meiling fainted.  
  
However, Sakura and Syaoran both reappeared, unharmed. Windy, Watery, Firey, and Earthy unfroze and turned back into cards.   
  
"Meiling! Meiling! Wake up! The sky's dark! And your hair's not messed up anymore! Hey, is that the card in your hand?"  
  
Meiling opened her eyes. She held her tired hand up and gazed at the thin sheet of paper. It had a red border, engraved with gold. The picture was a sky full of stars, but in the center there was one shining particularly bright. The bottom read, "The Wish."  
  
"I guess it's really 2:30 in the morning. The Wish card made it sunny. My hair was messed up by Wish, you guys disappeared because of it, and Sakura's cards froze since Wish wished for it to happen."   
"It's called Wish?"  
"Yeah. I guess I could do a lot with this card…"  
  
Meiling stood up, dazed.   
  
"Well what do we do now?"  
"Uh, go back to bed?"  
"Wait. Syaoran, the real reason I came here is to get you to come back to Hong Kong. Your mother misses you. She hasn't seen you in years. Five years."  
"Go back to Hong Kong? And leave Sakura?"  
  
Syaoran realized what he said, and blushed.   
  
"Yeah. We all miss you."  
"I-I guess. When do we go, then?"  
"Tomorrow."  
"OK."  
  
Syaoran sighed deeply.   
  
"Will I see you tomorrow? Because I have something to give you."  
  
Sakura took out of her pocket a small winged teddy bear the size of her hand.   
  
"We made these in Home Economics. And, since I've never given you a present before, not even for your birthday, I decided to give this to you."  
  
She handed it to the surprised Syaoran, who would have dropped it if Meiling hadn't swiftly caught it.  
  
"Th-Thanks. Um, goodbye…"  
"Goodbye."  
  
Syaoran turned quickly, so that Sakura wouldn't see his tears. I'm actually leaving, he thought.   
  
Meiling was holding Wish in her hand, wondering how she could use it without a wand. Then, the center star twinkled. Twinkled?   
  
Syaoran turned around the same time Sakura did. Her emerald eyes seemed to be saying, "Don't forget me."   
  
"I won't. And I'll come back. I promise."  
  
*  
  
If you read my fic, and didn't review before, now is the time to do that. ^_^  
  



End file.
